How the Best Managers Practice Attentiveness Attentiveness is a common trait for managers who excel in the workplace.  The best leaders treat employees as individuals, make feedback a priority, and listen to what their staff has to say.  Sydney Finkelstein is the author of Superbosses: How Exceptional Leaders Manage the Flow of Talent from which this article was adapted. To read the full article in the Harv ...

With the New Year just around the corner, Mercer Capital is beginning their countdown a little early.  Here are this year’s 10 most popular posts from The Financial Reporting Blog.  Happy New Year 2016! To read the full article in Mercer Capital's Financial Reporting Blog, click: Financial Reporting Blog: Best of 2015. This article is republished from Mercer Capital's Financial Reporting Blog.  It is reprin ...

The IRS is Challenging the Appropriateness of Discounts when Preparing a Valuation The current regulations, Revenue-Ruling 93-12, allow for discounts when valuing a Family Limited Partnership (FLP). The proposal is expected to potentially limit the allowed discount and consequently raise the taxable portion of the trust or estate structures. This article reviews the current requirements for FLPs, their hist ...

Secured Creditors Lost Almost $200 Million in Economic Value Due to the Imposition of Below Market Interest Rates Many bankruptcy practitioners have focused on the recent decisions in Momentive[1] that forced secured creditors to refinance prepetition loans at below market interest rates.  Most of these practitioners’ publications focus on the courts’ findings and the potential implication on future matters ...

Duff & Phelps has released its 2015 U.S. Goodwill Impairment Study.  This is prepared in partnership with the Financial Executives Research Foundation, analyzing the general and industry trends of goodwill impairment of over 8,700 U.S. publicly-traded companies. To download your complimentary copy, click: Goodwill Impairment Study 2015. ...

The 2014 Purchase Price Allocation Study by Houlihan Lokey is complete and available for you to download.  Included in this study is their review of public filings for merger and acquisition transactions, and shows how they analyzed the portion of purchase consideration allocated to tangible assets, intangible assets, and goodwill. To download your complimentary copy, click: 2014 Purchase Price Allocation S ...

Buyers do not offer premiums simply for the sake of gaining control, but rather, through exercising the prerogatives of control, those buyers expect to generate economic benefits.  Travis W. Hams, leads Mercer Capital’s Financial Reporting Valuation Group, looks at the Appraisal Foundation’s white paper on the subject of JAB Holdings’ acquisition of Keurig Green Mountain. To read more about the results of t ...

How to Account for Current or Proposed Legislation in the Business Valuation Engagement Oftentimes a valuation engagement presents a unique set of challenges for the appraiser. For instance, a particular engagement may be the first look at how companies in a particular industry operate. Other times, it may be a look at a company experiencing a downturn, and the appraiser must determine how to properly deter ...

Improving Organizational Well-Being Why have an employee hotline? What are the benefits, if any, of an employee hotline? In this article, Ray Dunkle shares his views and the results of implementation. While many forward-thinking organizations are increasingly implementing hotlines, the best practice of such a hotline is so new to most, that few know how to successfully do so. The remainder of this article p ...

The Present Value of Future Lost Profits, and the Time Value of Money Experts estimating the present value of a business’ future lost profits have much less direction from the courts than their counterparts estimating the present value of a person’s lost earning capacity. Professional literature has attempted to fill this gap providing many articles discussing the differing methods for analyzing lost profit ...

This article covers recent developments in employee benefits, examining, among other things, the Affordable Care Act's complicated reporting requirements, the proposed fiduciary responsibility rules, and updated procedures to correct employee plan failures.  Terry Richardson, principal, and Bryce Tholen, manager, both with PwC LLP in Dallas, take an in depth look at what’s involved.. To find out more on The ...

Financial Abuse of Seniors Could Grow as the Population Ages As more people enter their golden years, they become increasingly susceptible to financial fraud and financial elder abuse, especially if their mental faculties start to decline.  This article looks at the case of an 86 year old Seattle widow bilked out of much of her savings and how easily it can happen. To find out more about The New York Times ...

The International Private Equity and Venture Capital Valuation (IPEV) Guidelines were developed in 2005 to set out recommendations on best practices in the valuation of private equity investments.  Karolina Calhoun, senior financial analyst with Mercer Capital, looks at the draft amendments to the existing guidelines published in October 2015. To read more about the results of this report in the Mercer Capi ...

on Business Valuations in Litigation In this article, Paul Fullerman, CPA, CVA, discusses techniques which can assist the accredited valuation professionals performing a business valuation. ...

You and Stress Is work stress inevitable? Something that professionals need to embrace and live with, like it, or not? How does an organization or management know if stress is affecting the well-being of its employees? In this article, Nancy Yeend shares a process management can employ to answer these and other questions. ...

SPARC the Analysis and Shine Have you ever asked your clients what drives the value of their businesses? If they feel comfortable that they know what drives their business’ value, have you ever asked them why it does? In this article, first of a two part series, Sarah von Helfenstein shares her thoughts on the kinds of things that we, as business analysts and appraisers, should consider when assessing busin ...

IRS will Provide Tax ID Victims Copies of Fraudulent Returns The Internal Revenue Service announced procedures for victims of tax ID theft or their authorized representative to request copies of bogus returns filed by identity thieves.  This change of policy will allow identity theft victims to better assess what personal information was compromised and how it was used.  Paul Bonner, JofA senior editor, dis ...

Get Top Value When Selling an Accounting Firm Avoiding these seven key misconceptions can help you avoid getting less than your firm is worth.  Harry L. Olson, president of Accounting Broker Acquisition Group Inc., discusses the misconceptions and what pitfalls to look out for. To find out more about this Journal of Accountancy article, click: Maximize Proceeds in Accounting Firm Sales. ...

Being on the rise, dissenting actions are catching the eye of investors, attorneys, and other deal makers.  Jay D. Wilson, Jr., senior member of Mercer Capital’s Depository Institutions practice, takes a look at why it is important an appraiser preparing a valuation of a bank in an appraisal action understand both valuation techniques and the banking industry. To read more about the results of this report i ...

Grow and Retain Your Referral Base Today’s valuation firms rely heavily on referrals to produce new leads and revenues. According to a new study by NACVA and Hinge Marketing, most firms could be getting far more referrals if they made a few changes to their marketing. This article shares the findings. ...